Your arraignment is the first court appearance you will have in your DUI criminal proceedings. The arraignment provides you with your first opportunity to plead guilty, not guilty, or “no contest” to your California DUI charges. You may qualify for a public defender, in which case, you will be counseled prior to pleading guilty, if that is what you choose to do. Consequently, you have the opportunity to be sentenced immediately. However, if you have a viable defense, you may not see it in the initial reports and that is why many people choose to hire private counsel, especially if the law firm offers a payment plan, such as San Diego Defenders. Many times, people call a law firm and express how difficult it is to get a job with a DUI on their record. “I should have stopped to think of the consequences” is what is said. There are four divisions of the Superior Court in San Diego County. San Diego Central (Downtown San Diego), South Bay Division (Chula Vista), East County (El Cajon), and North County Division (Vista). This article links you with the map to each location. If you plead not guilty a future date (Readiness Conference) will be set for 4-6 weeks out. It will be noted if you have an attorney and if you do not you may be assigned a Public Defender. If you hire a private attorney, in between your Arraignment and Readiness you or your San Diego DUI lawyer will be able review the prosecution’s evidence (discovery). This includes a copy of the police report, any recordings visual or audio and access to the maintenance records of the testing instrument(s) that were used. If you or a loved one has been charged with a DUI or related crimes please contact our office at (619)233-6900 for a free and confidential consultation with an experienced attorney.

This year seven states have pending legislation or ballot measures regarding the legalization of marijuana. This comes amid the administation’s crackdown on legal dispensaries in California and Colorado. There is an evident disconnect between the apparent goals of the administration and many of the individual states’ views on the matter.

A record number of Americans now favor legalization. Many have come to understand the enormous amount of time, money and other available resources that are expended unsuccessfully trying to curb the use of this once legal substance. Billions of dollars are spent annually in enforcement, eradication and incarceration. Isn’t a more common sense approach to tax and legalize? This is what many citizens and politicians are beginning to think.

But acceptance of this idea is far from universal. The president would not be engaging in the current crackdown if he didn’t think there was political capital to be gained. Even the scandalous “Fast and Furious” program engineered by the Department of Justice has done little to derail the vast majority’s support of the war on drugs.

But as in any war, the first casualty is truth. The truth is that marijuana is not the menace it is portrayed to be. The war on drugs kills people and ruins lives. Most of the people in prison in this country are there for drug related offenses. People who get high on marijuana don’t kill people. Drug enforcement agents do.

But this is an emotional issue for many, much as the war of prohibition on alcohol was in the last century. There are many parallels. For instance, prohibition creates a culture of gangsterism. This was true in Al Capone’s day and it is true now. The drug cartels of today are just the political and economic descendants of the gangsters of old. When alcohol was re-legalized, the bootlegging gangsters disappeared. Unfortunately the law enforcement apparatus created to combat them did not.

But it seems we never learn. Prohibition has never worked and it never will. As long as there are disproportionate profits to be made, the gangsterism will continue and innocent people will continue to die.

DUI Checkpoint scheduled for Chula Vista tomorrow night! The Chula Vista Police Department Traffic Unit will be conducting a DUI/Drivers License checkpoint on 05/19/12, within the city limits between the hours of 6:00 p.m. and 1:30 a.m. Checkpoints are placed in locations that have the greatest opportunity for achieving drunk and drugged driving deterrence and provide the greatest safety for officers and the public.

Officers will be contacting motorists passing through looking for signs of alcohol or drug impairment. Drivers caught driving impaired may expect jail time, license suspension, thousands of dollars in fines and insurance increases.

The San Diego Sheriff in association with the San Diego County DUI task force will be conducting DUI checkpoints in Escondido, Imperial Beach and around San Diego State University between the hours of 6:00 p.m. and 2:00 a.m. on Saturday May 5th. San Diego will also be deploying DUI saturation patrols around San Diego County.

Watch DUI attorney, Jon M. Pettis, explain what to do if stopped at a DUI checkpoint or stopped for suspicion of driving under the influence. These and other information videos are available at our Youtube page.

If you or a loved one are charged with a DUI or related crime and would like a free and confidential consultation with an experienced lawyer, please call our office at (619)258-8888.

Have you or a loved one been arrested for a DUI or related crime and you don’t think you can afford a lawyer? San Diego Defenders can take cases with little to no money down. Watch our supervising attorney, Daniel M. Smith tell you more.

If you or a loved one would like a free and confidential consultation, please contact our office at (619)258-8888.

A DUI checkpoint is scheduled in the city of Encinitas in San Diego County on April 27th, 2012. The checkpoint will take place on the 1300 block of South Coast Highway 101 in the City of Encinitas Friday April 27th between the hours of 9:30 p.m. and 2:30 a.m.

Officers will be contacting motorists passing through looking for signs of alcohol or drug impairment. Drivers caught driving impaired may expect jail time, license suspension, thousands of dollars in fines and insurance increases.

Marine Staff Sergeant Luis Ray Perez, who had previously been named as a person of interest in this case, plead not guilty for the murder of Brittany Killgore on April 26, 2012. Perez was the last person believed to be with Killgore before she disappeared.

Deputy District Attorney Patrick Espinoza told the judge at Thursday’s arraignment that Perez has misled authorities about what happened that night and Killgore’s blood has been found in his car.

If you or a loved one have been charged with a crime and would like a free and confidential consultation with an experienced criminal defense lawyer, please call our office at (619)258-8888.